chopped up and washed a handful of fresh greens from the parker farm CSA: romaine and red leaf lettuce, and chicory. boiled an ear of corn, sliced kernels from the cob and chilled. added to the greens julienned young carrots and thin halved rounds of asian turnips (white lady).

salvaged a loaf of fresh bread that didn't turn out so great (didn't rise enough, dough sat around for a while, too firm) by slicing it into 1/8-in thick rounds, crosswise, seasoning the slices with seasoned rice vinegar, a spritz of oil, and some salt and pepper. baked on a lightly oiled baking sheet, in a 425-degree oven, for 7-minutes on a singe side, then pulled and let cool on a rack until crisp. served with a few different topping options/combos blue cheese, some thinly-sliced vidalia onion, and black currant jam.

trisha salvaged a bag of broccoli stalks from her place of work yesterday and made this delicious soup. she sliced the broccoli stalks into 3/8-in thick rounds, tossed them in some olive oil, salt, pepper, celery seed, and fresh basil, then roasted them in a 400-degree oven until nicely browned. added the broccoli to a stock pot with onion, garlic, and celery, which had been slowly sauteed in olive oil (soup day is a bad day to be out of butter). braised the broccoli in some amontillado sherry, and pork and fig stock (yes, that's right, it was in the freezer from the fig braciole dish. it was the braising liquid.) for an hour or so, until fully tender. blended the contents of the pot until smooth and added some more pork and fig stock, some water, 1/2c. or so of buttermilk, and let simmer for a little while longer.

tossed some cubed potatoes and diced red onion in some fresh parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil. roasted in a 400-degree oven until tender.

mixed together lemon juice, shredded parmesan, and fresh parsley.

mixed 1T. of dried yeast into 2c. of room temperature water (let stand for a few minutes). while mixing added 2t. sugar, 2/3c. olive oil, and 3t. salt, then slowly added 1.5-lb white whole wheat flour, then removed from the mixer and kneaded by hand until smooth, cut into two pieces, shaped into a boule, and let rise on parchment paper on a baking sheet for an hour. baked on a middle rack in a 400-degree oven for 30-minutes, with humidity (spray and bath), rotating a few times, then let cool on racks for 30-minutes.

served the soup in some large-rimmed soup bowls garnished with some of the roasted potatoes, and drizzled with some of the lemon juice, parmesan, and parsley mixture, with a slice of the fresh boule on the side.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

sauteed some onions and black beans in a little oil, and seasoned with garlic, chili powder, some hot sauce, salt and pepper.

cut 1.5T. butter into 1 3/4c. flour, added a pinch of salt, then slowly mixed in 3/4c. or so of luke warm water. folded/kneaded until smooth, and still goopy, then let sit for an hour at room temperature. rolled small balls of the dough out on a well-floured surface, then put them on a rack in a sheet pan and broiled each side until lightly colored, but not dry.

topped the chapatis with some of the spicy beans, a splash of salsa, some fresh salad greens, fresh cilantro, and a little crumbled feta.

just made these on a whim, without any real structure or foundation. as with most of these recipes, the amounts are approximate, this one needs a little fine tuning.

mashed-up an overripe banana with 2T. smooth tahini, 1.5T. butter, 1.5T. brown sugar, a pinch of salt, 3/4c. flour, 1/2c. cold water, 1t. active dry yeast. didn't dissolve the yeast in the liquids because it was up in the air what the leavening agent would be. seemed to work out. kneaded until fairly smooth, then placed in the refrigerator for an hour. removed the dough, broke into ten small balls and let rise in an oiled and floured muffin pan for another hour, then baked at 350-degrees for 15-minutes (rotating the pan a few times during), until slightly brown.

[notes: need to take a minute to check the dof setting in the future. was also a super low-light photo. these had a nice taste, the tahini flavor didn't come out until the next morning after they were allowed to cool on a rack and then stored in a paper bag. some nuts might have been nice, however, the idea was to make a normal style bread, with banana and tahini flavors, and maybe some chunks, not a cake or loaf.]

rehydrated about 1.5c. of dry tvp in some hot tap water, until fully expanded. then strained and rung dry using a fine metal sieve. mixed into the tvp a beaten egg, 3T. smooth tahini, 1.5T. coarse cornmeal, 1T. honey, 1T. canola oil, some lemon juice (maybe 1/2 lemon), a crushed clove of garlic, 1/2-1t. cayenne, 1t. coriander, salt and pepper. mixed well, then folded the mixture in a large piece of parchment paper, and rolled out with a rolling pin until about 1/4-in thick throughout, then peeled back the top layer of paper. heated 2T. of canola oil in a medium frying pan, and used a spatula to slide along the bottom layer of parchment paper and delicately pick up a spatula sized layer of the tvp mixture, and flip into the hot oil. cooked a few of these sheets of tvp, without disturbing, until lightly browned on the first side, and then flipped and repeated. each new batch of crisps required a little more oil. wasn't trying to deep fry anything, but that probably would have been a better approach. the medium frying temperatures produced a better tasting result, hotter temps gave a better texture. sliced the finished product into 3/4-in wide strips after cooling on some paper towels on a plate (huh, just like deep frying).

whisked together 2T. seasoned rice vinegar, 1T. honey, 1 crushed clove of garlic, 1t. ground coriander, and a pinch of salt and pepper, then mixed in about 2T. of canola oil, until to the right taste and consistency.

chopped up and washed a handful of large spinach, red leafy lettuce, chicory, pea tendrils and romaine (all from the first delivery of the new parker farm csa via metroped!!), tossed in the dressing with some sauteed red onions and topped with a few of the crisps in a chilled rimmed soup bowl.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

rubbed two 7-lb bone-in pork butts with a mixture of 1t. fresh ground black pepper, 1t. ground cayenne pepper, 2T. ground arbol chile, 2T. ground coriander, 1T. dark brown sugar, 1T. dried oregano, 4T. spanish paprika, 3T. kosher salt (ground some of this fine, the thought was that the fine salt would penetrate better and do a different job than the larger crystals), and 1T. ground white pepper, then wrapped in plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for a while and then at room temperature. 9-am, evan from atk arrives. after a run to the local supermarket, the first chimney starter full of coals is fired up. 11-am, the butts are in the offset smoker stoked with hot coals, and chunks of hickory (which had been soaking in water for about 20hrs). the first sight of the bellowing smoke was beautiful. high-fives were exchanged. then the struggle began. after accidentally peaking-out somewhere around 400-degrees, the smoker maintained a temperature near the target temperature of 250-degrees for an hour or so, then dropped to 215, which is where it slowly smoked away for the next four hours. 4-pm, enter marcus from atk. marcus masterfully worked the coals and wood until 11pm. at about 5 or 6-pm the butts were wrapped in aluminum foil and transferred to a 250-degree oven, with a pan of water in the bottom for humidity. the first target for the internal temperature was 150-degrees at the thickest spot (when they were pulled from the smoker), and then at 190-degrees they would be done and ready to pull. the butts cooked away until almost 10-pm when they were unwrapped, pulled in their own juices, and then finished with a tangy bbq sauce.

evan cored and chopped fine one medium head of green cabbage, and mixed that together with two large peeled and shredded carrots. set the mess in a colander and tossed with a bunch of kosher salt to let wilt for an hour before being rinsed under cold water and dried. placed the slightly dehydrated carrot and cabbage mixture in a large bowl and tossed in a creamy dressing consisting of 2/3c. buttermilk, 1/4c. miracle whip (oh yeah, barf!), 1/4c. real mayonnaise, 1/4c. sour cream, 8 scallions chopped fine, 2t. sugar, 1t. spicy dijon mustard, and 1/4t. ground black pepper.

tossed a pile of the juicy pulled pork on some cheap hamburger buns with a helping of the 'slaw on top.

removed the membrane from the bottom of two untrimmed 4-lb racks of spare ribs. rubbed the ribs with the same rub as the pork butts [1t. fresh ground black pepper, 1t. ground cayenne pepper, 2T. ground arbol chile, 2T. ground coriander, 1T. dark brown sugar, 1T. dried oregano, 4T. spanish paprika, 3T. kosher salt (ground some of this fine, the thought was that the fine salt would penetrate better and do a different job than the larger crystals), and 1T. ground white pepper]. placed the racks in a 250-degree offset smoker with smoldering chunks of hickory for a few hours, using a mixture of 1c. cider vinegar, 1T. red pepper flakes, 1T. kosher salt, and 1T. sugar, to mop the rib occasionally. after three hours or so, the ribs were pulled, wrapped in tin foil and placed in a 300-degree oven until the bones pulled away when tugged, about two hours.

inform yourself

i cook with friends and these are some pictures of some of the projects/dishes/meals/etc. that i have made since january 2008. sometimes other people take the pictures and sometimes other people make the food, usually noted. if you would like more information on any of the food, please feel free to contact me (or drop a comment). i'm not looking for fame or to be recognized as a chef/cook, i have no formal training in the culinary arts and i don't claim to know what i am doing, this is simply a hobby of mine and this blog is a more linear way for my friends and family to view some interesting creations. enjoy!

[edit: i also have a different style column over on selectism. check it out.]

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